IMPD seeks clues in cold case murder involving stolen guns

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By Russ McQuaid

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Oct. 2, 2014)-- When relatives hadn't heard from Charles Hanna for a few days, they stopped by his home on Walker Avenue on the city's southeast side to discover the 63-year-old man had been shot to death and his firearms collection stolen.

"There was a variety of guns," said Lt. Roger Spurgeon of IMPD's Cold Case Squad. "There were several long guns and handguns that were missing from the house as well as a safe that contained a lot of the guns and also a certain amount of cash."

Spurgeon said the front door to the home was kicked in, the back door was open and investigators think the killer had help to remove the safe and load it into a vehicle.

"It would be pretty unbelievable to think that somebody would just happen to break into a house and the ability to cart off a several hundred pound safe that would be empty," said Spurgeon, "and then add into that the poundage of the weapons and whatever else was contained within it. It would stand to reason that there was some planning involved in this."

Investigators eventually recovered two of the stolen weapons, though 25 others remain unaccounted for.

"We don't know who took them," said Spurgeon, "where they are, if they've been distributed to people within Indianapolis or further out in the state or across the country, we just don't know, and then, of course, what happens to those weapons? Are they being used in other crimes?"

If you have any information about the murder of Charles Hanna in October of 2010, or the whereabouts of the stolen guns, call Crimestoppers at 262-TIPS.